Australia : "The drying continent"

Jim Salinger, a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Australasian chapter, painted a grim picture for Australia during the coming decades. The IPCC, set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation and the UN Environment Program, is a collaboration of more than 2500 climate change scientists and 130 governments.

"Australia is very much the drying continent," Dr Salinger told journalists in Auckland. "Large areas are likely to have less rainfall and soil moisture. This has dramatic implications for crop, pastoral and grazier land production over much of southern and eastern Australia. So they are looking at very serious consequences there," he said. "The cropping areas will be reduced. There is a potential for large drops. It is all the crops that are grown in the riverine areas and the Murray-Darling basin."

He said there would also be a projected drop in Australia's snow coverage by 20-85 per cent by 2050. "I believe that the skiing industry may not be an economic proposition. It depends on the rate of warming entirely," he said. Natural hazards, such as a rise in tropical diseases and cyclones were also projected to be more common in coming years. Extreme rainfall events, flooding and salt inundation of freshwater supplies, changes to mangroves and fire regimes, as well as coastal erosion and rises in sea levels could present challenges to some Aboriginal groups.

Post a Comment:

Comments are closed for this entry.

« Pentagon considering... | Main | Nissan, NEC to make... »

Most popular blog postings on lowem.log :

1. Singapore SIBOR interest rates fall to 1.5%, lowest since Dec 2004
2. Singapore SIBOR rate falls to 1.31%, lowest since Nov 2004
3. Live spot gold price quotes chart on COMEX
4. Fuel prices seen stoking Malaysia inflation in 2008
5. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
6. Singapore SIBOR rate fell to 1.25% in Apr 2008, lowest since Aug 2004
7. Malaysia inflation rate jumps to 7.7% in Jun 2008, a 26-year record high
8. Singapore : electricity tariffs to increase April 2008 on rising oil prices

Featured articles on lowem.log :

1. ABC Guide to Beating Inflation in Singapore and Elsewhere
2. Singapore inflation rate hits new 26-year high of 7.5% in Apr 2008
3. Singapore : Bread price inflation continues
4. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
5. Peakoiler buys 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid FD3
6. How to insert currency exchange rates into Google Spreadsheets
7. Singapore SIBOR rate falls to 0.94% in Nov 2008, lowest since Jul 2004
8. Singapore : Inflation erodes away bank savings